"Ah... I..." Ash stammered.

"All right..." he said.

"I mean... just... all right, then." he repeated.

"I trust you." he told her.

"But where are we going?" he asked.

"Where CAN we go right now?"

Ash just sighed as they left, and he looked at the building as they put distance between them and it.

"...." he was silent, before biting his lip and looking forward again.

'I hope we find a safe place soon...' he thought.

'Mr. Azazel, where are you?' he asked mentally.

-Some time later-

Ash and Rylie were sitting in a park, around midday, when they heard a commotion closeby. It sounded like someone was causing trouble, and it also sounded like a fight was going to break out.

But that's not what caught Rylie's attention.

What caught her attention was a VERY familiar feeling... coming from that direction. One she hadn't felt in years.

Ash shook his head and 'returned to reality', before nodding.

"Yeah, sure." he responded.

"It DOES sound pretty bad." he agreed.

With that, the two of them rushed towards the sound of the disturbance, and when they showed up, they saw a cloaked figure surrounded by 4 other figures... and there were 3 figures laying on the ground, unconscious.

A quick glance told them that the 1 had been attacked by the 7, and they'd already knocked out 3 of them.

"You'll have to do better than THAT." a familiar voice said to one of the 4.

Ash was silent for a moment, before nodding.

Sure enough, in short time, all 7 of the individuals were on the ground.

And the cloaked one was just fine.

He then sighed and paused, before turning towards the two of them.

"Hey." he greeted them.

"...long time." he said, removing the cloak, revealing himself to be Azazel.

Ash remained silent, stepping back a bit, and looking to Azazel.

Azazel just sighed, shook his head, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Took you long enough to notice." he said.

"You come and go as you please, disappear for months and months at a time, but oh! Oh! When, all of a sudden, I'M not there to fall back on when things go to crap, THEN you care about me!" he went on.

"Not even MY kid!" he exclaimed.

"I swear I'd managed to finally get away from this, but you just HAD to follow me ACROSS THE DAMN OCEAN!"

Azazel ended up laughing out loud as well, before shooing away some people that had gathered.

"Nothing to see here, people! Move along!" he commanded. Once people seemed to be out of the way, he grabbed the 7 by their collars, and sighed.

"We should sit and chat." he agreed.

"...where?" he asked.

"Where would you prefer to do it?" he asked her.

"Here, or elsewhere?"

Azazel was silent for a moment.

"Well, you can always come to the Unit." he told her.

"They're a place that helps those like us." he said.

"Like us?" Ash asked.

Azazel looked back and forth.

"Non-human, or mana-users." he whispered.

"I can give you the address, and you can drop by in a couple of hours." he offered.

Azazel let go of the people he was holding, before digging out a pencil and small piece of paper. Once he did, he jotted down where it was, and handed to her.

"Here you go." he said.

"By the way, Ash?" he then addressed the boy.

"Yeah?" Ash asked.

"I can feel it. You're stronger than ever." Az commented.

Ash just grinned.

"Heh, yep."

Ash nodded.

"All right." he said.

"See you guys later." Azazel told them, before they parted ways.

"Wow." Ash muttered.

"I knew Azazel was strong, but that was really cool to see." he told Rylie.

"Did YOU know he was that strong?" he asked her.

"Yeah, that was really awesome!" Ash exclaimed.

"How he dodged that thing, and then did that, and then that happened, but he did this..." he went on excitedly, as he 'mimicked' what Azazel had done in the entirety of the 'fight' that they had seen.

Of course, it was a little on the inaccurate side, and a bit clumsy, but the sentiment was there.

Eventually it culminated in Ash getting dizzy and almost falling over.

"Woah..." he mumbled.

"Ok, need to calm down..." he told himself.